Merton Chemist (1034392)

Pharmacy context

This community pharmacy is situated on a main road near to the town centre of Bootle, Merseyside. The pharmacy dispenses NHS prescriptions, private prescriptions and sells over-the-counter medicines. It also provides a range of services including the NHS Pharmacy First service. The pharmacy supplies medicines in multi-compartment compliance packs to some people to help them take their medicines at the right time.
This was a full reinspection following an inspection in February 2025 where the pharmacy did not meet Standards 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, and 4.3. The pharmacy was found to be making the necessary records for private prescriptions in line with requirements. New standard operating procedures (SOPs) were available at the pharmacy, which had been drafted by a trade association. But the pharmacy had not reviewed the draft version and updated all the relevant sections to reflect the processes that were being carried out. This meant a number of risks associated with providing pharmacy services were left unmanaged and standard 1.1 had not been sufficiently met. The pharmacy team had a book to record near miss mistakes, but only two entries had been recorded since the last inspection. The GPhC had also received information about an error, which when questioned, members of the team did not know had occurred. So the pharmacy was unable to demonstrate that it takes sufficient action following mistakes, to help prevent a similar occurrence and therefore standard 1.2 had not been sufficiently met. Members of the team had tidied the dispensary, removed loose strips of medicines, and carried out a date check of stock medicines. But  the temperature of one of the fridges was out of range, and no action had been taken to raise it as a concern. So the pharmacy was unable to show that it stores medicines in appropriate conditions, and therefore standard 4.3 had not been sufficiently met.